Choose Life: A Sermon based on Matthew 5:21-37

Wow- whatever happened to our happy-clappy, the God loves you no-exceptions Jesus?  Where’s the love and the grace?  Where is the liberal, anything goes Jesus?  Today we encounter the fire and brimstone Jesus.  And what makes this even more difficult is that Jesus isn’t preaching to his opponents, he’s not speaking to the Pharisees ,  the scribes- he’s not speaking to those who have been criticizing him what makes this difficult is that he is speaking to his friends- his disciples- you see we are in the midst of the sermon on the mount-  He has sat down on the mountainside and called his friends, his disciples  together for this preaching moment.

And the sermon started out beautifully- he started  out with the Beautitudes-- Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven — blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted --blessed are the this and that-- images of the what the kingdom of God will look like …  He then shifts  his sermon into motivational speaker mode- that was last week’s gospel- you are the salt of the earth- you are the light of the world- let your light shine before others… and now in mid sermon Jesus has gotten his bible out he’s shaking it at the people- he’s pounding his fist  on the pulpit, he’s gotten all fire and brimstone—one wrong action and all of sudden you are liable to the fire of hell. One wrong look by your eye and he says pluck it --one wrong move by your hand and he says cut off. 

What also makes today’s passage difficult is the indictment hits us square between the eye- who hasn’t been angry, who hasn’t had a tinge of lust—who hasn’t been dishonest at one time or another?  And then Jesus starts talking  divorce—tough words for a society, a culture where 1 out of every 2 marriages ends in divorce

Where’s the love, Jesus?  Where is the love Jesus?

But you see the Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel is a Jesus who has expectations for his disciples-  Matthew’s Jesus isn’t just happy clappy- anything goes, God loves you no-exceptions Jesus.   In Matthew’s Jesus we see that discipleship requires commitment-- in Matthew’s Jesus we see that there are certain behaviors that usher in the kingdom of God and others that don’t. 

Obviously murder is one of those behaviors- not going to usher in the kingdom- but now anger is included in the indictment.

But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…

Let me say this, this is not the emotional anger that bubbles up at different time—Jesus certainly had his own moments of anger--- remember the money changers in the temple- the flipping over of the tables --- the anger he is getting at is deep seated anger- that seethes within- unreconciled hostility toward the other- that’s the anger-  it’s the anger that you can’t let go of- that just eats at you and eats at you.  That’s the anger he’s including here.

Adultery quite obviously not a kingdom behavior- we get that but then he adds lust-

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery 

But this is not the passion between to lovers- but lust that objectifies the other- lust that sees the other as a means to get what one wants- lust that is selfish and for its own gratification.  That’s the dangerous lust. 

And then he deals with divorce –

But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Let’s speak about divorce in the first century Palestine— Divorce was strictly driven by the male-  a man  could arbitrarily drop his wife- you didn’t produce me an heir- I’m done with you—I didn’t like the way you looked at me—I’m done with you. I don’t like your new haircut- or that you burnt my toast this morning- divorce.   Folks there was no alimony for the woman- the guy keeps the kids- she’s out on her own and if she didn’t have a family to care for he making money by begging or selling her body.    In situations of divorce in first century Palestine- the woman becomes vulnerable and at risk--- that’s why Jesus prohibits divorce. 

In the book of Deuteronomy this morning we heard Moses inviting the Israelite people to choose life- He says,  “choose life so  that you and your descendents might live.”  And life was very much tied to the law and patterns of living that God had already given the people as they wandered the desert.

What we see today in the Gospel is Jesus is teaching his disciples, he’s teaching us about choosing life— about choosing the ways that usher in the kingdom of God. 

This isn’t an indictment about anger but rather it’s about choosing to be reconciled to those who we’ve wronged or to be reconciled to who’ve wronged us. It’s about not letting anger rule within us but rather about finding Life, finding that the kingdom of God can be found when reconciliation happens. 

Who in your life do you need to be reconciled to? Wouldn’t you find life if that reconciliation were to happen?

This isn’t an indictment about  moments of lust- but rather its about how the world might transformed and how the kingdom can come when we can see the people around us not as objects but as bearing the  beautiful image of God its about disciples seeing every human being as deserves our respect and dignity. 

Who are the folks that we really have a hard time seeing the image of God? 

This isn’t an indictment about divorce- but it’s about the kingdom and the life that comes from making sure the most vulnerable and in our society are looked after and that unjust structures that allow people to become vulnerable are changed.   Some of vulnerable of Jesus day were divorced woman. 

On the surface this isn’t the Happy Clappy God loves you no- exceptions, the anything goes Jesus.  But when we weed through it all—this is a Jesus who loves his disciples deeply-who loves us deeply who loves enough to show us the way of life-- to teach us about where we can find life in our midst, where the kingdom can come into our lives.

Might we accept Moses invitation to Choose life – and then we might know more fully about what it is like to live.

AMEN